From August 24 to 28, after five days of fierce competition, the third annual National Dialogue was convened virtually, and was co-hosted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the China Soong Ching Ling Science & Culture Center for Young People and Citi China. CPU’s project team “i-Mask: anti-PM2.5 nasal temperature-sensitive gel stood out from many participants, including teams from the University of Cambridge, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Tsinghua University, and Peking University, and won the only first prize in Start-up Track, which marked our university's historical breakthrough in this competition.
Since its journey began in 2017, the National Dialogue has been involved in 25 countries and territories in the region, attracting more than 75,000 young attendees. The event aims to establish a common agenda to empower and invest in youth, so that they can accelerate the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through leadership, social innovation and entrepreneurship. The theme of this year’s National Dialogue was Digital Disruption in a Post COVID-19 World, to empower young people with digital skills and encourage innovative, inclusive and sustainable solutions to address the social economic and health issues caused by COVID-19.
The i-Mask project started in 2018. After entering the university’s dual innovation and cultivation system, the project based on pharmaceutical innovation, continuously enhanced its practical value and commercial potential. In this competition, the project was co-directed by Sun Chunmeng, School of Pharmacy, and Wu Fang, School of International Pharmaceutical Business; undergraduates Zhu Bingde, Huang Xin and Li Yan from School of Pharmacy and School of Traditional Chinese Pharmacy were the team member. The project actively exerted its professional advantages and won the unanimous recognition and praise from the judges and experts with its product novelty and overall solution. It is reported that this project will have the chance to participate in the Regional Youth Co:Lab Summit to be held in 2021. Representing Chinese youth, the team will showcase their start-up projects along with youth from more than 25 countries and territories in the Asia-Pacific region and show how young generations contribute to the realization of SDGs through social innovation and entrepreneurship.
In recent years, our university has continuously strengthened the cultivation of students' innovative and entrepreneurial abilities, and guided them to participate through various methods such as thought guidance, interest driven, and teacher-student collaboration. Meanwhile, launching measures of “categorized guidance, gradual cultivation, special support, and combination of innovation and competition” would comprehensively enhanced students’ innovative spirit and entrepreneurial awareness, and eventually promote their growth and development.
Mainstream media coverage:
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)：
People's Daily：
http://world.people.com.cn/gb/n1/2020/0831/c1002-31843642.html
China Youth Daily:
http://news.cyol.com/app/2020-08/31/content_18758339.htm
